Help the Noobie?

[Crunch140]

Hi Everyone,
First, thanks to all for the time you put into this place. I've found lots of great information here so far.

A little history, I've been a Blackberry user for a LONG time. Through the years of Blackberry ownership, I've grown familiar with loading beta/custom OS's, etc.. The Samsung Droid is my first Android based device, and I ditched my Blackberry (and my Wife's too, but she got a Droid X sometime back) for this one.

So I've had my phone for a little over a month now I believe, and am loving it. I'm unhappy with the bloatware, and battery life. I do have an extended battery + cover for when I travel which helps. I've been reading about rooting, ROMs, kernels, etc.. for quite awhile, though I will admit I'm a bit confused by some of the jargon used here (ROM is Uboot? Kernel is obvious).

So let me get on to my question and stop boring you with my life story here.

Simple: I want to root my phone, freeze/remove some of this bloatware, and gain more control over my device. I'm currently at EE4 (which I managed to load successfully from the leak). I want to keep most of what Verizon included with the phone, except Rock Band, Slacker, Blockbuster, TuneWiki, VZ Navigator, AllShare, BitBop, Guided Tours, Amazon Kindle, Let's Golf 2, and Rhapsody. I use Verizon's mobile hot spot (works pays for it so I'll just keep using it), the power control widget which comes with it, and other built-in apps. I've read about freezing apps vs deleting them, and I'm fine with that. I'm a bit unconfortable about the "debloated ROMs" because I don't know if something I need has been removed.

I've read this, and think I can follow the instructions.....
http://forum.androidcentral.com/dro...s-hacks/93866-how-get-rooted-version-ee4.html

It's the technical jargon which is confusing me. Looking back at the post linked above:

-What is CWN and what does it do to the phone? I see Imnut's version is recommended, but I don't know what it means. Is this an update/hack/fix for the boot/recovery menu accessed via home+volume down+power?

-Kernel to use? Imnut's Peanutbutter Jelly time seems recommended, but what all is included in the kernel on Android? Do I have to worry about Apps at this point? I'm assuming this is kernel + kernel mode drivers, right?

-ROM I would like to use? What quantifies as ROM on these phones? What all is included (appears this is where app live)? What is deodexed? What is zip-aligned?

-Finally, what expectation should I have regarding my data, settings, apps, corp & personal email settings, etc. after doing the above?


I tried reading as much as I could before posting this and got some answers, but without the basics am just generating more questions. It's a little overwhelming learning the new phones, so thank you now and in advance for your patience with me.

Cheers,
Jason

 

[porkshanker]

1. You need to flash the latest recovery using ODIN. The CWM recovery allows options that the stock blue Samsung recovery doesnt allow and you will need this.

2. Not much choices overall on Kernels - I agree that the PBJ is the best and I never have seen any issues with it since day one of having my charge,

3. At this point I would run the gummy 2.34 gingerbread. ( you get netflix)

4. this will all wipe your data complete.

5. Bottom line be prepared to potentially recover from brick and all data to be gone its the nature of all this modding. I am not saying you will brick for sure but I personally have bricked my charge several times always recoverable.

 

[Crunch140]

Thanks man, I do appreciate the help.

 

[jkeene81]

http://www.androidcentral.com/root

if you are looking for basics the Q&A section on this link has some good stuff!!

 

[tkm20]

GB is just a leak right now. So if you want to load that, go for it, but you may have to wipe data once the official release comes out from it's devs.

 

[voigts]

I just rooted my phone via the EE4 guide last night and it is very easy. I did not however load a custom ROM as I wanted to backup all of my apps via Titanium Backup. Loading a custom ROM (basically the phone OS) will of course wipe out all data and settings. Seeing as I'm new to this, I didn't want to wipe everything out yet and go with a custom ROM instead of the stock OS. I may end up doing so however as I'm still not satisfied with the smoothness and performance of the phone. The menus still hesistate a bit, which annoys me somewhat.

 

[Anderain]

The link jkeene81 is great for determining if it is right for you.

If you do decide to root, I recommend using these instructions to do it: http://forums.androidcentral.com/droid-charge-rooting-roms-hacks/93866-how-get-rooted-version-ee4.html

It was the first time I ever rooted, and it only took 15-20 minutes to do it. Hope it helps.